The Holy Cross and Other Tales was published by Charles Scribner’s Sons in 1893 and contains Field’s most ambitious work in allegorical prose fiction. The title story — about a fragment of the True Cross and its journey through centuries of European history — establishes the collection’s medieval and religious atmosphere: these are tales of saints and sinners, miracles and redemptions, set in a world where the supernatural is always present and where moral choices have eternal consequences.
Field’s prose in these stories is more measured and formal than his newspaper work — influenced by Hawthorne’s allegorical method and by the English prose of the Pre-Raphaelites. The stories are not quite fairy tales (they are too serious, too concerned with adult moral questions) and not quite realistic fiction (the supernatural intrudes too freely). They occupy a genre that barely exists in American literature: the moral fable for adults.
The collection reveals a dimension of Field that his humorous columns and sentimental verses do not: a deep religious sensibility, rooted in his Catholic sympathies (Field was raised Protestant but was drawn to Catholicism throughout his life), that took questions of sin, redemption, and grace seriously. The book was less commercially successful than his poetry collections — its solemn tone surprised readers who expected humor — but it was the work Field himself valued most.
Collecting The Holy Cross and Other Tales
First edition (Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1893): Cloth binding with decorative cover.
Market values:
- First edition: $40–$100
- Later printings: $10–$25